


Besties

by zorilleerrant



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-22
Updated: 2016-03-22
Packaged: 2018-05-28 10:13:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6325009
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zorilleerrant/pseuds/zorilleerrant





	1. Vince

During Draco’s first encounter with Vince, he was sitting behind a tree on the edge of a playground, sniffling.

Not crying. Or at least trying not to. Malfoys didn’t cry. They looked somber and respectable. Of course, Malfoys also didn’t get rocks thrown at them just because the other kids didn’t want to play. Draco screwed his eyes shut. He also very carefully didn’t jump when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” a voice asked.

Another child’s voice, not an adult that was going to tell him to behave himself. Draco relaxed, and looked up at the voice. “Nobody wants to play.”

“I’ll play with you,” the other boy said.

“Okay,” said Draco.

The other boy’s eyes widened momentarily, and then he sat down in front of Draco. “What’s really wrong?”

“They threw rocks at me,” Draco replied, sullenly.

The other boy shook his head. “That’s mean.”

“Yeah,” agreed Draco.

“What you need, is you need to throw rocks back at them,” said the other boy. “Only, you can’t do that, because you’d get in trouble. I’m Vince.”

“Draco,” Draco said. “Why should I do it, if I’d get in trouble?”

“You shouldn’t,” said Vince. “Only everyone says that’s how I would do, since I’m a bully, and so no one throws rocks at me. Have you tried being a bully?”

“Are you a bully?” Draco asked.

“I dunno,” Vince replied. “But everyone calls me one, so I must be, mustn’t I?”

Draco tilted his head and stared at his new friend. “You are pretty big.”

“Yeah, that’s what they say,” Vince replied. “I suppose they’re afraid I can hit them, even though mummy and daddy say hitting is wrong, and also hexing, once I’m old enough to hex people.”

“I can see how that would come in handy,” Draco said. “But I don’t think I can be a bully. I’m not big enough.”

“That’s okay,” Vince replied. “Next time you tell me, and I’ll throw rocks at them for you.”

 

Next time happened to be two days later, right around the same time, the same exact children who hadn’t wanted to play with Draco all week. All he caught was a flash of red hair, just before he went tumbling down the slide. He caught his head on the sharp metal of the slide’s rails, and felt dizzy, but before he could even ask, his friend was coming to his rescue, pummeling the redhead.

And then Vince helped him up and got some ice to put on his head and got Draco’s nanny to call Draco’s mummy to come pick him up from the park.

Draco insisted Vince come home with them.

“What happened?” his father asked, aghast.

So Draco repeated the story for his father, even though he’d already told his mother and she’d gasped and gibbered affectionate nonsense at him.

His father did much the same thing.

“Who was this other child?” his mother finally asked.

Draco shrugged, but his new friend Vince said, “Weasley.”

“I’m going to declare blood feud against that family,” Lucius muttered.

Draco frowned in confusion. “What’s that?”

“It means his family and our family won’t be friends,” Lucius explained.

“Okay,” Draco agreed. “So they’ll stop throwing rocks?”

Lucius went pale and stormed out of the house.

Draco had to hold still for a very long time until his mother declared that her potion had worked sufficiently, and then looked his head over for the tiniest injuries.

“Maybe you could do that,” Vince said.

“Do what?” Draco asked, when he could finally move again.

“Declare blood feuds,” Vince said.

Draco furrowed his brow.

“Because you’re not very big,” Vince added, “you could threaten them with a feud.”

“Oh, you’ll get bigger, Draco, dear,” Draco’s mummy insisted. “But your friend is right. As Malfoys, we do wield considerable political power. Just say you’ll tell your father.”

Draco nodded happily. “Then daddy can make everything right!”

“And I’ll protect you until you get bigger,” Vince added, solemnly.

Draco hugged his friend.


	2. Greg

It wasn’t until years later that the two friends met Greg. They were idling on the beach, tossing rocks and bits of shells into the water.

“Hello,” Greg said, handing over a decent skipping rock.

Draco skipped it. It went on for a while.

“I have a proposal,” Greg said.

Draco shrugged. “Let’s hear it.”

“You have serious political influence,” Greg said. “I’d like to benefit from that.”

“I’m not hearing what’s in it for me,” Draco sneered.

“Protection,” Greg said, gesturing at himself.

Draco nodded his head towards Vince. “Already got some, thanks.”

“I see that,” Greg said. “Now, would you like me to make this offer to somebody else, and have to contend with a rival, or would you like to consolidate your power now?”

Draco scowled at the other boy, and Vince moved closer to his side.

Greg smiled. “Zabini has a lot of influence, too. And more money.”

“Not likely,” Draco said. “Fine. You can mooch off my money and power. Provisionally. We want to see what you’re made of.”

 

What Greg was made of was serious discipline. He started the two other boys in fitness training, taught Draco basic self-defense, showed up Vince’s considerable martial arts skills with formidable skill of his own, and generally reflected well on Draco’s image.

And also, he was much faster at learning how to cook than Vince was, which was endlessly delightful to Draco’s mum, who had gotten bored of teaching Draco once he’d mastered all the family recipes. With sufficient cajoling, Narcissa even managed to get Greg to start learning piano, though he didn’t have Vince’s dexterity.

When no one made fun of his fumbling attempts, he tried harder. And when he eventually mastered the basics, and neither Draco not Vince mentioning his failures to the wider world, he started to trust them.

And when Greg knocked out an older boy who was aiming a Beater’s bat at Draco’s head, Draco started to trust him.

And when Greg and Vince hatched a plan to enter a muggle martial arts competition, then beat all the other entrants soundly, with Draco cheering them on all the while, all three boys had to admit that they’d become friends.


End file.
